For Foundations of College Writing, I have created three separate projects that have helped me achieve the five goals of writing. In my first project, CLUE, I researched the effect of clubs on college students through interviews and readings. In my second project, EAR, I created three genres for different audiences that reflected my findings of my CLUE project. In my last project, TELL, I told a story of my personal feelings and experiences that had to deal with education and what it means to be educated.
Goal A. Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes. In my first project, CLUE, I researched extra-curricular clubs influences on college students, and interviewed college students to ask them why they chose each club and the influence each one had on the individual. I used the three IN’s-INtroduce, INsert, INterpret throughout this paper, which helped me to transition through my paper. First, I INtroduced my topic to my audience of college students or researchers to find out more information on the effects of clubs have on college students. Then, I INerted examples gathered from my research and interviews to better explain the relationship between clubs and college students. Finally, I INterpreted those examples to connect those examples back to my original INtroduction. I can connect and engage my paper with other college students because of the way it personally affects them and what they choose to participate in when first coming to college.
In my second project, EAR, I also achieved this goal by creating three different genres that portrayed my CLUE findings, but for different audiences. More specifically, the flyer I created to join clubs at Bloomsburg University is geared towards college students in a different way. This flyer is for those who like quick and easy information about clubs in college. With the same purpose, I made the flyer in an easier way to read about the effects of clubs and the reasons they should become involved in one. There are many examples on the side of the flyer that show the clubs and activities Bloomsburg has to offer. The way I am able to change the information I gathered from my CLUE project to my EAR project that had a different audience shows I can compose for particular audiences and purposes.
Goal B. Students will be able to compose using language and conventions appropriate to genre. In my CLUE project, I was able to use the five different headings; problem, background, method, findings, and conclusion; to display the different parts of my paper. This shows that I am now able to appropriately arrange my data so it is easy for other Social Science researchers to read and transition through my writing.
In my EAR project, which was the project where I transformed my CLUE into three other genres, I took the information from my CLUE project and transformed into three separate projects, each directed towards a different audience. I was able to use similar transitions and incorporate it into my second part of EAR. For this genre, I changed my tone and language so it would be more appropriate for my audience of college student’s parents. In the first part of my EAR, I changed the tone and format of my CLUE findings to make it easier for college students to read and understand.
Goal C. Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments. The CLUE paper, which I previously described as being a research project, was an example of how I critically able to take apart research from professionals and put it into my own words and understanding. The following sentence taken from my CLUE project accurately shows the way I interpreted another person’s research: “Butler states that "there is a positive relationship between an adolescent’s participation in structured extracurricular activities and well-being" which is why so many students want to join clubs (Butler & Hagewen, 2010, p. 1). This example also shows the way I can correctly use APA formatting in my papers.
Goal D. Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres. In my EAR project where I took information from my research project and transformed it into three different genres, each for a different audience, and all on the same subject as my research project that I talked previously about. For my first genre, I created a flyer directed to college students. My second genre was a professional letter to parents, and my last genre was a comic also directed to college students. These three separate projects showed how I can successfully get certain audience’s attention. For my flyer, I tried to use colors and pictures that would catch the reader's eye (contrast) and repeated those same colors and shapes throughout the whole flyer (repetition). I centered everything as much as I could and put examples of the clubs offered on the side in one section (alignment). Underneath the section of the clubs, I put who and where to contact someone if they wanted more information on the clubs or extra-curricular activities (proximity). This flyer is directed to college students because of the way I used color and pictures to attract college students attention.
For my professional letter to parents of Bloomsburg students, I made it simple, but still gets the point across of the importance of staying involved in college. There are examples of clubs offered and reasons why students should join at least one of them. There is the Bloomsburg University logo to add color and make the letter look more professional (contrast). I've mentioned Bloomsburg University and the clubs offered a few times to emphasize it (repetition). The format of the text is centered, double spaced, and big enough font to easily read (alignment). I grouped the paragraphs together on similar topics (proximity). This letter is directed to parents of Bloomsburg students because of the way it is formatted and the way it is written. It’s written so parents can understand and take in the information without having a lot of jargon in it.
For my satire, I decided to make a comic describing the difficulties students have choosing what clubs to join because of how many universities have to offer. I used different colored backgrounds to show contrast with colors and repeated the same shapes for the speech bubbles (repetition). I centered everything as much as I could and kept the speech boxes and people the same sizes (alignment). There are different sized people to show what type of clubs they are promoting based on their clothing (proximity). This satire is also directed to college students because of the color and pictures and how it relates to the decisions college students have to make when choosing what to get involved with. It is also written in a way that is simple and easy to read, but still shows the difficulties some students have with deciding what to join. http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/#send[TS1]
Goal E. Students will be able to discuss and apply appropriate writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts. For this last goal, my final project, TELL, my personal narrative, shows how I can individually write a personal paper about my thoughts and experiences on education. With every project, we met with a group and did peer reviews. In each peer review, we worked as a group to go over each person’s papers and tell each other what needs to be fixed or changed.[TS2] In every paper or project I made in this class, I always had a lot of grammatical errors that I needed to fix. Looking between the drafts and the final copies from each of my projects, you can easily see the difference in my grammar skills, as well as finding ways to put in more evidence, examples, and explanations into each project.
For each of the three projects, I have been able to achieve all of these goals in Foundations of College Writing. I can use all of these skills I learned in my future classes and apply them to my writing.
Goal A. Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes.
In my first project, CLUE, I researched extra-curricular clubs influences on college students, and interviewed college students to ask them why they chose each club and the influence each one had on the individual. I used the three IN’s-INtroduce, INsert, INterpret throughout this paper, which helped me to transition through my paper. First, I INtroduced my topic to my audience of college students or researchers to find out more information on the effects of clubs have on college students. Then, I INerted examples gathered from my research and interviews to better explain the relationship between clubs and college students. Finally, I INterpreted those examples to connect those examples back to my original INtroduction. I can connect and engage my paper with other college students because of the way it personally affects them and what they choose to participate in when first coming to college.
In my second project, EAR, I also achieved this goal by creating three different genres that portrayed my CLUE findings, but for different audiences. More specifically, the flyer I created to join clubs at Bloomsburg University is geared towards college students in a different way. This flyer is for those who like quick and easy information about clubs in college. With the same purpose, I made the flyer in an easier way to read about the effects of clubs and the reasons they should become involved in one. There are many examples on the side of the flyer that show the clubs and activities Bloomsburg has to offer. The way I am able to change the information I gathered from my CLUE project to my EAR project that had a different audience shows I can compose for particular audiences and purposes.
Goal B. Students will be able to compose using language and conventions appropriate to genre.
In my CLUE project, I was able to use the five different headings; problem, background, method, findings, and conclusion; to display the different parts of my paper. This shows that I am now able to appropriately arrange my data so it is easy for other Social Science researchers to read and transition through my writing.
In my EAR project, which was the project where I transformed my CLUE into three other genres, I took the information from my CLUE project and transformed into three separate projects, each directed towards a different audience. I was able to use similar transitions and incorporate it into my second part of EAR. For this genre, I changed my tone and language so it would be more appropriate for my audience of college student’s parents. In the first part of my EAR, I changed the tone and format of my CLUE findings to make it easier for college students to read and understand.
Goal C. Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments.
The CLUE paper, which I previously described as being a research project, was an example of how I critically able to take apart research from professionals and put it into my own words and understanding. The following sentence taken from my CLUE project accurately shows the way I interpreted another person’s research: “Butler states that "there is a positive relationship between an adolescent’s participation in structured extracurricular activities and well-being" which is why so many students want to join clubs (Butler & Hagewen, 2010, p. 1). This example also shows the way I can correctly use APA formatting in my papers.
Goal D. Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres.
In my EAR project where I took information from my research project and transformed it into three different genres, each for a different audience, and all on the same subject as my research project that I talked previously about. For my first genre, I created a flyer directed to college students. My second genre was a professional letter to parents, and my last genre was a comic also directed to college students. These three separate projects showed how I can successfully get certain audience’s attention.
For my flyer, I tried to use colors and pictures that would catch the reader's eye (contrast) and repeated those same colors and shapes throughout the whole flyer (repetition). I centered everything as much as I could and put examples of the clubs offered on the side in one section (alignment). Underneath the section of the clubs, I put who and where to contact someone if they wanted more information on the clubs or extra-curricular activities (proximity). This flyer is directed to college students because of the way I used color and pictures to attract college students attention.
For my professional letter to parents of Bloomsburg students, I made it simple, but still gets the point across of the importance of staying involved in college. There are examples of clubs offered and reasons why students should join at least one of them. There is the Bloomsburg University logo to add color and make the letter look more professional (contrast). I've mentioned Bloomsburg University and the clubs offered a few times to emphasize it (repetition). The format of the text is centered, double spaced, and big enough font to easily read (alignment). I grouped the paragraphs together on similar topics (proximity). This letter is directed to parents of Bloomsburg students because of the way it is formatted and the way it is written. It’s written so parents can understand and take in the information without having a lot of jargon in it.
For my satire, I decided to make a comic describing the difficulties students have choosing what clubs to join because of how many universities have to offer. I used different colored backgrounds to show contrast with colors and repeated the same shapes for the speech bubbles (repetition). I centered everything as much as I could and kept the speech boxes and people the same sizes (alignment). There are different sized people to show what type of clubs they are promoting based on their clothing (proximity). This satire is also directed to college students because of the color and pictures and how it relates to the decisions college students have to make when choosing what to get involved with. It is also written in a way that is simple and easy to read, but still shows the difficulties some students have with deciding what to join.
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/#send[TS1]
Goal E. Students will be able to discuss and apply appropriate writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts.
For this last goal, my final project, TELL, my personal narrative, shows how I can individually write a personal paper about my thoughts and experiences on education. With every project, we met with a group and did peer reviews. In each peer review, we worked as a group to go over each person’s papers and tell each other what needs to be fixed or changed.[TS2] In every paper or project I made in this class, I always had a lot of grammatical errors that I needed to fix. Looking between the drafts and the final copies from each of my projects, you can easily see the difference in my grammar skills, as well as finding ways to put in more evidence, examples, and explanations into each project.
For each of the three projects, I have been able to achieve all of these goals in Foundations of College Writing. I can use all of these skills I learned in my future classes and apply them to my writing.